Method and apparatus for optimizing biological and cytological specimen screening and diagnosis

1. A method for determining thresholds for a plurality of slide review processes for use with an automated screening device comprising the steps of: a) computing a review process cost associated with each slide review process of the plurality of slide review processes; b) computing a sensitivity to abnormals associated with each slide review process; and c) computing an overall review rate from a review rate for each slide review process, wherein each review rate is affected by a threshold for the slide review process, wherein each threshold is selected to provide a review rate for each slide review process that minimizes a total cost and satisifies a minimum sensitivity constraint.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the review process cost comprises a false negative cost.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the review process cost comprises operational cost.

4. A method for determining a slide review process for screening and reviewing of a cytological specimen on a slide using an automated screening device, the method comprising the steps of processing the cytological specimen with the automated screening device to generate a slide score; classifying the slide score according to predetermined criteria to provide a slide score classification; and determining a slide review process from a plurality of slide review processes to perform on the cytological specimen based on the slide score classification; wherein the step of processing the cytological specimen with the automated screening device further comprises the step of generating a plurality of fields of view; wherein the step of processing the cytological specimen further comprises generating a plurality of field of view scores; wherein the step of processing the cytological specimen further comprises the steps of scoring a plurality of fields of view of the slide to provide a field of view score for each field of view of the plurality of fields of view; ranking the plurality of fields of view according to its field of view score; determining a number of fields of view to select for review; and selecting the highest ranked fields of view within that number for review; and wherein the step of determining a number of fields of view to select for review further comprises the steps of: a) computing a k highest field of view score to satisfy the following conditions: EQU (1-F.sub.1)(1-F.sub.2) . . . (1-F.sub.k)<.alpha.(1-S) and EQU (1-F.sub.1)(1-F.sub.2) . . . (1-F.sub.k-1)>.alpha.(1-S) where: .alpha. is an adjusting factor; F.sub.k is the field of view score of a kth highest field of view; and S is the slide score; and b) selecting a plurality of fields of view having the k highest field of view scores for review.

5. A method for determining a slide review process for screening and reviewing of a cytological specimen on a slide using an automated screening device, the method comprising the steps of: processing the cytological specimen with the automated screening device to generate a slide score; classifying the slide score according to predetermined criteria to provide a slide score classification; and determining a slide review process from a plurality of slide review processes to perform on the cytological specimen based on the slide score classification; wherein the step of processing the cytological specimen with the automated screening device further comprises the step of generating a plurality of fields of view; wherein the step of processing the cytological specimen further comprises generating a plurality of field of view scores; wherein step of processing the cytological specimen further comprises the steps of: scoring a plurality of fields of view of the slide to provide a field of view score for each field of view of the plurality of fields of view; ranking the plurality of fields of view according to its field of view score; determining a number of fields of view to select for review; and selecting the highest ranked fields of view within that number for review; wherein the step of determining a number of fields of view to select for review further comprises the steps of: a) determining if the slide score exceeds a predetermined threshold, and if it does not, selecting no fields of view for review; and b) if it does, computing a k highest field of view score to satisfy the following conditions: EQU (1-F.sub.1)(1-F.sub.2) . . . (1-F.sub.k)<.alpha.(1-S) and EQU (1-F.sub.1)(1-F.sub.2) . . . (1-F.sub.k-1)>.alpha.(1-S) where: .alpha. is an adjusting factor; F.sub.k is the field of view score of a kth highest field of view; and S is the slide score; and c) selecting a plurality of fields of view having the k highest field of view scores for review.

6. A method for determining a slide review process for screening and reviewing of a cytological specimen on a slide using an automated screening device, the method comprising the steps of: a) processing the cytological specimen with the automated screening device to generate a slide score; b) classifying the slide score according to predetermined criteria to provide a slide score classification; c) determining a slide review process from a plurality of slide review processes to perform on the cytological specimen based on the slide score classification; d) computing a review process cost associated with each slide review process of the plurality of slide review processes; e) computing a sensitivity to abnormals associated with each slide review process; and f) computing a review rate for each slide review process, wherein the review rate for each slide review process is selected to minimize a total cost and satisfy a minimum sensitivity constraint.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the review process cost comprises a false negative cost.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the review process cost comprises operational cost.